Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Dispatches from Summer

Ross Mason

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:29:55 +1300

30 Dec.

Rain. Steady. Warm.

End of the Hot, Sunny Weather for a few days I suspect.

Castlepoint looks like it will be an insider. Bugger. Sorry Jane, I won't be able to mow the lawn. :-) or prune the overgrowth or BBQ outside. But I will still bake scones…

Ben Austin

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:45:34 +1300

At work in London, where, after a mild (apparently 13 degrees C) Christmas Day, things have cooled down to around 1-3 degrees. So much for a London t-shirt Christmas season!

Chris Waugh

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:12:48 +1300

Snow this morning. My daughter is not having the best weather luck. She was born March 31, just in time for the spring sandstorms, but fortunately we didn't get any this time round, so she's not having the worst weather luck either. She spent the summer at her maternal grandparents'…

Ross Mason

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:38:46 +1300

23 Dec – Hot, Sunny
24 Dec – Hot, Sunny
25 Dec – Hot, Sunny
26 Dec – Hot, Sunny
27 Dec – Hot, Sunny
Foecast for 28 Dec – Hot, Sunny.

This is particularly annoying for the MM.

No gales, no floods, no rain.

Boring........Hot, Sunny.

I dare not…

Sofie Bribiesca

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:56:57 +1300

Trick is one must watch the blood pressure. I had a berry aneurysm and that drink pushed it. Thing was the drink enabled,me to finish painting the lounge so there was a silver lining to my long white cloud. I was kinda used to pushing my limits :)

Hebe

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:43:33 +1300

Six weeks coma? Scary. Tequila did me in at a do opposite in a big old hotel opposite the Wellington Railway Station in 1981. It was some sort of alt-arterati party night. I can't remember the night but the two days after was indescribably vile. And the headache was excruciating…

Sofie Bribiesca

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 09:46:18 +1300

Yeah, I guess that’s the one. Not a big drinker, now, me.

Me, Vodka, lime and Soda (big drinker then), nek minnit, hospital bed 6 weeks later. Must have been some drink cos I don't remember none of it. However do remember 18 years old , Tequila with the worm,…

Jackie Clark

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 09:33:35 +1300

Oooh. Is this the one where I tell my story about going on a close friend's first date ever with the man who was destined to become her exhusband, and drinking southern comfort all night, and them having to come back in the tube with me to make sure I…

Lucy Stewart

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 09:05:59 +1300

There was about a decade where nothing even slightly whiskey related passed my lips after an evening involving very cheap bourbon and a boy who liked me less than I thought he did.

Whiskey was also involved, but for some reason I got over that about five years sooner -…

Geoff Lealand

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 08:47:55 +1300

Bloody Marys. Can’t handle them since I drank a jug full and spray painted the interior of someone’s toilet a nice red.
But a good brandy and dry ginger ale makes for a good drink. Once favoured vodka and pineapple juice because I read how it was Nabakov’s favourite tipple…

Isabel Hitchings

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 08:25:36 +1300

It took me about seven years to be able to stomach the smell of gin after a particularly ill-planned bout of teenage revelry. The body is apparently smarter than the mind, in some things.

There was about a decade where nothing even slightly whiskey related passed my lips after an…

Kyle Matthews

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:47:20 +1300

It took me about seven years to be able to stomach the smell of gin after a particularly ill-planned bout of teenage revelry.

Southern Comfort. Which is apparently a bad idea to drink, let alone to excess. Haven't been able to look at a bottle since 1993.

We're up to…

Chris Waugh

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:21:51 +1300

The Chinese kerosene (small k) er..wine(?)

Sounds like 白酒/báijiǔ. Not many non-Chinese can stomach it, but you'll have to trust me that although some of it should be better used stripping paint or fuelling jet planes, some of it can actually be quite nice – and surprisingly cheap, too. It…

Lucy Stewart

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:28:28 +1300

I have to say, the Chinese brew still triggers a violent rejection response via the olfactory organ whenever similar bottles are opened.

It took me about seven years to be able to stomach the smell of gin after a particularly ill-planned bout of teenage revelry. The body is apparently smarter…

Ross Mason

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 07:28:05 +1300

Relaxing so good I woke at 6am on Boxing Day!

Chris, you wanting beer reminded me of my Xmas at Lake Vanda, Antarctica. A cabin full of NZers, Chinese and Japanese scientists and field assistants. Breakfast began at about 9am. With Saki. The Chinese kerosene (small k) er..wine(?).. in the…

Chris Waugh

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 21:21:55 +1300

Is there anything else but food at this time of year?

Yes. Just got me a one litre can of Kaiserdom Dragon Year 2012 Special Edition and a 5 litre... ummm.... keglet of Pfungstädter. Back when I moved to this part of Beijing the most special thing that supermarket sold…

Ross Mason

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:44:23 +1300

25th.

No doubt others may no longer be feeling essurient. No 3 daughter made waffles. Friends brought bacon and fruit salad. Panned a few bananas with cinnamon and B suger. Ate. Refilled. Ate.

Hot Day needed extra shade. Sat around wining and ginger beered (Ture!) until middle of the avo.…

nzlemming

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 23:33:52 +1300

Livin' large, Ross! Have a good one.

Ross Mason

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 23:20:04 +1300

24th.

6-30am rise. Coffee. Take off to beat crowd at Pak n Save. Crowded already. Strawberries still 2 for $5 – Good. Shopped. Unpacked at home. Cleaned new Trademe BBQ. Discover 12kg bottle had leaked and now empty. Lucky we did not need it for an earthquake. Middle of day…

Craig Young

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 10:23:19 +1300

Ah. Nasty old Oz right-wing ratbag Bruce Ruxton has shuffled off this mortal coil, at eighty-five.

Chris Waugh

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:36:03 +1300

Just taught the last class of the semester. Exams next week. Preparing for my daughter's first Christmas, and I have to say it's actually quite fun resurrecting the family traditions to pass them on to the next generation.

But I found myself wishing we could be back in NZ where…

Geoff Lealand

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:12:56 +1300

Craig; you should also visit the Museum of Sex in Copenhagen, for a tacky treat.
We arrived in Nelson an hour or so ago, and it does feel closer to Christchurch.

Russell Brown

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:06:57 +1300

There's a thread for earthquake reports and reposes here.

Hebe

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:03:42 +1300

Power off and phone off in Brighton according to my bro. Reports of liquefaction parklands way, rockfalls sumner and taylors. Aftershocks a bit. It's ok though emma we all want to say fuck many times though.

Emma Hart

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:00:55 +1300

How bad is it? I'm in Wellington, my partner's flight just got out before it hit and they closed the airport, and I feel so fucking helpless I was crying on the street.

Lilith __

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:17:53 +1300

5.8.

Hans Versluys

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:14:03 +1300

Euro collapses so I can turn forty in Copenhagen in some style at modest expense
The only snag is that Denmark doesn't use the euro.

Jackie Clark

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:13:17 +1300

Just in time for a meet and greet.

Lilith __

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:03:08 +1300

FUCK. Quake.

Lucy Telfar Barnard

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:56:28 +1300

Alas, no summer here. It snowed last Friday, but it's all melted and little likelihood of a white Christmas, even in Bradford, where we'll be. I will be taking pavlova(s), which seems to me wonderfully contrary considering it's become tradition in NZ in large part because it works so well…

Sacha

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:54:43 +1300

I wonder how many people they get coming in at 3am after some pre-Christmas clubbing? They should lay on some beats, bro.

looking at you, Victoria Park New World :)

Lucy Stewart

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:33:50 +1300

I get a whole glorious week off between Christmas and New Year's to rev up for the Semester Of Doom that is to follow (grant renewal application; departmental seminar; major conference; preliminary PhD exam proposal; all in the span of ten weeks. Panicking now.) Torn between hoping for some snow…

Christopher Dempsey

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:33:18 +1300

Finishing PhD... wrapping it up to hand in early Jan, then my holiday starts.

Rich Lock

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:30:26 +1300

My last day at this job – resigned last month. I've need to get away from a situation that has...not been positive...for some considerable time. We're going back to the UK for an open-ended bit, so this summer is going to be bittersweetly viewed through the lens of 'the last…

Kumara Republic

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:50:30 +1300

Repaying the sleep debt, given my bio-clock's been in overdraft lately. No further explanation needed.

John Morrison

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:48:11 +1300

Off to Timaru for dinner with the in-laws. Back home for the usual amount of visiting friends & relations who want the typical Central Otago holiday. For the last few weeks we have had the glorious weather we all crave for, long may it continue.

Glenn Pearce

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:35:17 +1300

The funniest thing I saw on the 23rd Dec last year was an older lady who queued for about 30 minutes to get in to get 1/2 dozen pork sausages for dinner.....

Anonymous Author

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:31:10 +1300

This afternoon, I'll continue to confront Rémy Martin V.S.O.P. and live vicariously through this footage of Bobby Farrell, in anticipation of exotic holiday parties in Hawkes Bay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5gNYVia2rg

On Christmas day, I'll be helping my loved ones forget the past with presents, livestreaming O.com All Ye Faithful for some rousing…

Russell Brown

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:23:21 +1300

Queue is out the door and down the stree at the Westmere Butcher and they’ve been open since 2am.

Yikes. I was lucky then. It was merely jam-packed when I went 40 minutes ago.

I wonder how many people they get coming in at 3am after some pre-Christmas clubbing? They…

Hebe

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:12:21 +1300

Holiday tick; done — 10 days in Hanmer: swims, sleeping, books, taught the boys backgammon and ate wondrously home-built pizzas and breakfasts. Now we're back and preparing — langorously — for Christmas. Pre-Christmas holidays take the heat out of it all. Next is Christmas; then a long lazy summer at…

Biobbs

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:10:14 +1300

Having a quiet (and inexpensive) holiday season at home, and praying the Euro collapses so I can turn forty in Copenhagen in some style at modest expense...

Craig, make sure you climb the Round Tower when you're in Copenhagen. Highly recommended for some birthday exercise. It's the best and most…

RaggedJoe

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:10:08 +1300

I have bought a new hammock....nuf said

Martin Lindberg

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:58:30 +1300

Queue is out the door and down the stree at the Westmere Butcher and they've been open since 2am.

Thanks for the warning. Will attend to the back-wax first then...

Craig Young

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:53:49 +1300

Off to spend the solstice with my partner's family and him in Wairarapa, back on deck in the new year...

Glenn Pearce

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:46:11 +1300

Queue is out the door and down the stree at the Westmere Butcher and they've been open since 2am.

Ben Gracewood

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:28:53 +1300

I thought the traffic had already gone Christmassy as I drove north over the bridge this morning. Turns out some plonker had a crash and traffic was backed up way up the motorway.

We're off camping (all proper like with a tent and everything) from Boxing Day. Introducing a new…

Russell Brown

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:25:19 +1300

I'm eagerly anticipating that glorious spell when half the city buggers off and the roads go quiet. I will be riding, a lot.

Craig Ranapia

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:20:35 +1300

Having a quiet (and inexpensive) holiday season at home, and praying the Euro collapses so I can turn forty in Copenhagen in some style at modest expense...

Public Address

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:20:35 +1300

Discussion from blog post.